August 2006 • Volume 10 • Number 1 • Page 5

Perspective

Sue Swaim

Working Together for Young Adolescents

It's been 13 years since I stood at the entrance to our school welcoming teachers, students, and their parents to a new school year full of possibilities and opportunities. While admittedly most of us were still wishing that we could squeeze just a few more moments out of summer, we were excited about the arrival of fall and our renewed commitment to address the dual purposes of middle level education: the academic achievement and personal growth and development of each student in our school. We knew there would be surprises along the way and a few bumps in the road that we weren't expecting, but every fall always brought the promise of new beginnings, new students, new colleagues, new lesson plans … and renewed energy and enthusiasm needed to meet the needs of young adolescent learners.

I was reminded of that feeling this week as I read some of the online discussions between middle level educators through NMSA's listserve MiddleTalk. Rick Wormeli, a member and frequent contributor to the listserve, wrote in an entry: "We don't teach in isolation, as much as closing the classroom door might suggest. We can only progress with each other's wisdom. Can you imagine the stagnation that would occur if we didn't have each other to call upon freely?"
 
Those words rang very true to me as I recalled our common team planning time, our middle school faculty retreats, and the various professional development initiatives we experienced together while I was a middle level teacher and principal in Colorado. At the time, we didn't realize we were developing a strong professional learning community with a common focus on doing what was best for kids. We just knew things went better for everyone when we took the time to learn and plan together; when we focused on being good communicators amongst ourselves and with our students and their families; and when we took time to laugh and enjoy the fun of working together in pursuit of quality middle level education.

When one of us struggled with getting through to a particular student, we would often call upon a colleague for a different viewpoint, a new perspective, or ideas about what might work better. We did some of our best planning and implementation when we listened to one another; built upon each other's ideas, skills, and talents; and mixed in a lot of laughter and some good snacks along the way. Certainly, not one of us felt a sense of stagnation because we chose not to teach in isolation. Instead, we built upon our combined strengths, thereby diminishing our weaknesses. We soon discovered we were always better when we worked together as a team than when we tried to go it alone.

That teamwork and collaboration became one of the hallmarks of our school. We came to understand that "covering" the required curriculum is not the same as "learning" it. So we continually searched for new ways to intellectually stretch our students' learning, as well as our own, while in the pursuit of providing a challenging curriculum with students and teachers engaged in active learning.
 
As this new year begins, I encourage you to join with your colleagues and become involved in meaningful professional development opportunities that support your own growth and development as a middle level educator. Targeted workshops and conferences, classroom observations, on-the-job coaching, professional book studies, and online tutorials and Webcasts are just a few of the resources available to help you achieve this goal.

Without a doubt, today's middle level educators have additional challenges we didn't face. Yet I am as convinced today … as I was over 13 years ago … that if we choose not to teach in isolation, if we choose instead to find strength through collaboration, gain wisdom from our peers, and keep our focus on doing what's best for kids, we can achieve quality middle level education for every young adolescent. Easy to say … more challenging to achieve … but amidst today's realities it's more important than ever before. By working together, we can make good things happen for our middle level students and for ourselves.